Am I the only one who, while watching the first few moments of the video released fro amusement, noticed that Fat Princess completely mimc's Princess Peaches moves from Super Smash (floaty jump, Peach Bomber, etc)?

Maybe I'm not the target audience here but this just looks lame. I've owned every Sony console and yet none of these characters do anything for me and I can't think of too many "Sony" characters that do. This looks like a pure Smash Brothers rip off minus the Nintendo characters.

No, there is no legal protection for simply making a similar game. Mechanics can't be patented. Art style and general layout design aren't eligible for copyright. Futhermore, Sony isn't copying any actual artwork or software which would be protected.

And there doesn't need to be any legal protection for this stuff. If Sony builds off the ideas of others and makes something even better then great - the goal of "promoting the useful arts and sciences" has been achieved. If they create a cheep knock-off then the overall reaction will be that of Gandhim3, and no one will have been harmed (except Sony who wasted a bunch of money and made themselves look desperate).

hehe Hades (one of the best boss fights ever) turning around and hitting a number of patapons was a nice touch. Why shouldn't they copy it, if there is a market for a fun little multiplayer fighter like this why shouldn't they offer it. Would be a different story if SSMB was available on PS consoles as well. Not my type of game though, neither on Wii nor on PS3.

Maybe I'm not the target audience here but this just looks lame. I've owned every Sony console and yet none of these characters do anything for me and I can't think of too many "Sony" characters that do. This looks like a pure Smash Brothers rip off minus the Nintendo characters.

Yeah, same here. Once you get past the short list of Drake, Snake and Kratos it's meh. I think I'd rather see a Sega version of Smash Brothers than this.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that I expect to see a Grand Turismo or Wipeout level where you fight on the track and have to avoid the pack of vehicles. Just like the F-Zero track on Smash Brothers.

Wow. That looks ... horrible. The characters look like they're just stuck onto the backgrounds, and the play didn't look that exciting. I suppose they can only improve the game, but it looks like they have a long way to go.

Can Nintendo sue? If so, then iD software can sue every major developer/publisher ever for taking their FPS genre and running with it. Get real.

Don't forget there was a game that borrowed this gameplay style as well "DreamMix TV World Fighters" by Konami, Hudson and Takara for the Gamecube.

I seem to remember Sonic Shuffle on the Dreamcast that borrowed the Mario Party concept. Should we start counting how many Mario Kart ripoffs there's been? Did you get your pitchforks out when those were released?

What would they have to sue over? Stealing an idea for a game? (Ideas are not covered by Intellectual Property rights.) All the characters are copyrighted by Sony (or at least properly licensed), they didn't call it Smash Bros. so they can't sue for trademark infringement. There's certainly nothing patented about Smash Bros (I hope).

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by the levels looking similar. The levels looked very bland (except for the annoying backgrounds). Smash Bros levels are much more colorful and varied (platforms, traps, etc...) and styled after their own franchises.

Personally, I'm not very interested in this game. I have more of a connection with Nintendo characters, so I prefer Smash Bros. If Sony thinks their characters resonate with enough people that would be interested in a game like this, why shouldn't they make it?

No, there is no legal protection for simply making a similar game. Mechanics can't be patented. Art style and general layout design aren't eligible for copyright. Futhermore, Sony isn't copying any actual artwork or software which would be protected.

And there doesn't need to be any legal protection for this stuff. If Sony builds off the ideas of others and makes something even better then great - the goal of "promoting the useful arts and sciences" has been achieved. If they create a cheep knock-off then the overall reaction will be that of Gandhim3, and no one will have been harmed (except Sony who wasted a bunch of money and made themselves look desperate).

Uhhuh:

Sega applied for and was awarded U.S. Patent 6,200,138–"Game display method, moving direction indicating method, game apparatus and drive simulating apparatus" – in 2001.[3] The mechanics in the "138 patent" describe an arcade cabinet similar to Sega's previous arcade game Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders (1997),[18] but also describe the arrow navigation system and pedestrian avoidance aspects that were used in Crazy Taxi.

In 2001, Electronic Arts and Fox Entertainment released The Simpsons: Road Rage, which has been labelled a rip-off of the Crazy Taxi formula by game reviewers.[19][20][21] In this game, the player controlled one of The Simpsons characters as they drive about Springfield, taking passengers to their destinations in the same manner as Crazy Taxi. Sega sued Fox Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and developer Radical Games Ltd. over infringement of the 138 patent.[22] The case, Sega of America, Inc. v. Fox Interactive, et al., was settled in private for an unknown amount.[4] The 138 patent itself remains valid, and is considered to be one of the most important patents in video game development today.

Yeah, I don't understand any of the faux outrage over this (except for the expected anti-Sony crowd or the most dedicated Nintendo fanboys). Maybe if Smash Brothers was available on PS3 someone would have something to whine about, but as it stands, there isn't a game like this on the platform. I know I'd be interested in Smash Brothers, except it's on Wii meaning there's absolutely no hope for me (who lives in a remote area) to play multiplayer with friends. I assume Sony's incarnation has typical online multiplayer? I really couldn't care less about the Sony characters, but I have about the same amount of concern for the Nintendo characters in Smash Brothers, so it's not like that makes a difference.

I eagerly anticipate the announcement of XBox Cross Stars next. The ball is now in your court Microsoft

Smash Brothers works because Nintendo characters are generally well known (plus the way some of the characters work in the game, like Game & Watch, is just plain funny). Even my non-gamer family and friends can recognize like over half the cast, or make an educated guess ("Is that some kind of Pokemon?"). I don't see Sony enjoying the same level of success with their game.

What other characters would you like to see in the game though? Wander from Shadow of the Colossus? The prince from Prince of Persia?

They don't know Prince of Persia.They can include characters from things like SotC or Ico, but you'd get a lot of people going "Who's that?" I would guess. Not that Smash Brothers doesn't have the same thing with 30 characters or how many they have.

A lot of those are vehicles as the "main character" or don't have a character (like Singstar). The rest are unrecognizable a lot of the time. What would make a character cause a person to say "Oh, he's from SOCOM"?

I guess Konami grew tired of watching Snake getting beat up by Pokemon and had him switch back to Sony?

According to the tier lists, Snake (a super heavy-weight who's hard to KO and has some killer knockback and versatile ranged attacks) is an A-ranked character in SSBB, statistically fighting on a level where no Pokemon reside. He does share that rank with Diddy Kong and Falco, though.

There is probably at least one character form Wild Arms that would qualify. I'm not as big of an RPG nut, but I know the Wild Arms series is pretty popular in some circles. Whomever you get won't be a Cloud Strife, but there should be a not insubstantial number of people who go "Oh cool! Character X".

Honestly, I'm happy. The only reason I want to pick up a Wii is for Mario Kart and Smash Bros. Now I don't have to! Although, part of the fun of Smash Bros for me is watching Pokemons and Mario Bros beat the shit out of each other.

I eagerly anticipate the announcement of XBox Cross Stars next. The ball is now in your court Microsoft

Smash Brothers works because Nintendo characters are generally well known (plus the way some of the characters work in the game, like Game & Watch, is just plain funny). Even my non-gamer family and friends can recognize like over half the cast, or make an educated guess ("Is that some kind of Pokemon?"). I don't see Sony enjoying the same level of success with their game.

Dead on. Everyone knows who Mario is etc. There are some more unusual ones, but there are enough super well-known characters to make Smash Bros. good. I honestly don't think Sony has enough of those characters. (I am hoping for a Crash Bandicoot appearance, but his glory days are long past.)